Australian supporting a healthy Timor-Leste

They are changing lives and saving lives by giving young people with life-threatening heart conditions the opportunity to come to Australia for surgery. These patients need relatively simple procedures to correct conditions that are often the legacy of childhood illnesses largely eradicated in the west. They cannot be treated in Timor-Leste due to a lack of specialist medical facilities.

Damien says, "My role with the Hearts Fund is based on having a background in Timor-Leste across a range of political and development issues. I am able to provide advice to the board on how to address some of the bureaucratic and procedural matters that bedevil most countries, particularly those that are still building the administrative basics."

Professor Damien Kingsbury, Director of ADRI's Centre for Citizenship, Development and Human Rights and Director of the East Timor Hearts Fund.